NYT: Carson Considered Leaving HUD Over Department Budget Negotiations

on December 15, 2017 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 15: HUD Secretary Ben Carson speaks during a news conference where he talked about the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, commemorating the 25th anniversary FSS, at Lydia's House, on De... WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 15: HUD Secretary Ben Carson speaks during a news conference where he talked about the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, commemorating the 25th anniversary FSS, at Lydia's House, on December 15, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson considered leaving the Trump administration recently when negotiating with the White House over his department’s budget, people close to Carson told the New York Times in a story published Monday morning.

“There are more complexities here than in brain surgery,” Carson told the New York Times about his position leading HUD. “Doing this job is going to be a very intricate process.”

Carson was frustrated by the steep cuts to HUD imposed by Trump and had to negotiate for an extra $2 million, according to the New York Times.

Under the deep budget cuts pushed by President Donald Trump, HUD purchased a $31,000 new dining set for Carson’s office, allegedly without the secretary’s approval. Facing big budget cuts and scrutiny in the press, Carson ordered HUD to cancel the order for the new dining set last week.

Read the full New York Times profile of Carson here.

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Notable Replies

  1. Better to sleep at home than in your office, Ben.
    And you should resign after that really abusively expensive office redecoration debacle.

  2. I’m a bit stunned to see a Trump appointee, and a fairly loopy one at that, fighting to try to prevent the administration from destroying the agency he was sent to sabotage.

  3. “Considered leaving?” My suggestion to Carson: Reconsider your leaving. Reconsider your ethics.

  4. It’s a typo. He managed to restore $2 billion to the budget.

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